Greek Dinner

Use blue, gold, and white to decorate the dining room for a Greek dinner. Cover the table with a white cloth and set plates with an exotic, Greek-print on top. Serve the food on printed or gold platters and pour the cocktail into gold-trimmed goblets. White napkins look festive and elegant rolled into branch-shaped napkin rings. Light tealights and place in gold candle holders. Arrange white flowers in a metallic vase and have plenty of wine on ice. When guests arrive, greet each with a golden hair wreath to sport at the party.

My Greek feast is taking place on Saturday after a day of wine tasting, but our Dionysus-themed girls weekend begins on Friday night. To kick start the event, I'll greet each girl with a cocktail when she arrives. My sister has purchased golden Greek laurels for everyone to wear in their hair, so my cocktail is inspired by this party gift. It's called a Lemony Laurel and is a sunny, refreshing concoction that combines a lemon and bay leaf syrup with citrus vodka and Galliano. It sounds like a heavenly beverage that would be delicious enough for a goddess to drink! Get the recipe I'll be using when you read more

While most people automatically think of baklava when they hear the words "Greek" and "dessert," I want to surprise my girlfriends with something unexpected. The Greek dinner takes place after a day of wine tasting, so a make-ahead sweet treat, like Greek yogurt panna cotta, is ideal. A couple of years ago at our annual girls' getaway, I passed out before finishing cooking dessert, and this is a mistake I don't want to repeat this weekend! Traditional panna cotta is made with cream, but this recipe incorporates thick yogurt into the mixture. The resulting dish, which is topped with honey-glazed apricots, is smooth and slightly sweet. To check out the recipe, read more

This Friday my sister and I are hosting our annual girls' getaway to the cabin. Every Winter, we grab our best friends and enjoy a leisurely couple of days in the mountains. The highlight of the event is Saturday wine tasting in Murphys. To make things more exciting, we've decided to give the whole weekend a Dionysus theme. Naturally, I'm cooking up a mouthwatering Greek dinner. We'll start with an assortment of mezes, including Greek olives, hummus and pita chips, meatballs with ouzo and mint, and crispy cheese-filled phyllo bites. Since the appetizers are a bit heavy, the main course will be on the light side: halibut roasted in grape leaves with a Greek country salad.

These recipes would also be wonderful at an Olympics viewing party, so check them out now, after the break.